From Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting

Facing significant opposition to its plan to privatize part of the Social Security program, the White House is pushing reporters and lawmakers to use the expression "personal accounts," since polling data seems to indicate that "privatization" is an unpopular term with voters.

[snip]

"Private accounts" was the accurate term used by both sides of the debate until Republicans realized it wasn't polling well; they then started calling them "personal accounts," a deceptive term because citizens already have personal Social Security accounts that keep track of their individual contributions.

January 27, 2005

From Talking Points Memo

Needless to say, what's happened now is that Republicans are getting bad results in the polls. So they've come up with a new smiley-face vocabulary and they're hitting all the newsrooms telling editors that it's an example of bias to use the phrase 'nuclear option' since that's a slur devised by Democrats. [BT says: The New Yorker explains that the phrase was coined by Republican Senator Trent Lott.]

[snip]

There's no intrinsic reason why banning filibusters for judicial nominations should be called the 'nuclear option'... But one side in a debate shouldn't be able to order the refs in the game to rewrite the lexicon just because people don't like what's happening. And yet that's just what's happening. Republicans are now making a concerted push at a whole slew of news organizations, trying to convince them to stop using the term in their coverage, on the argument that it's an attack phrase concocted by the Democrats... Perhaps we can just call ending filibusters 'privatization'.

April 23, 2005

From Mr. George Orwell

"What I had really intended to say was that in your article I noticed you had used two words which have become obsolete. But they have only become so very recently. Have you seen the tenth edition of the Newspeak Dictionary?"

"No," said Winston. "I didn't think it had been issued yet. We are still using the ninth in the Records Department."

"The tenth edition is not due to appear for some months, I believe. But a few advance copies have been circulated. I have one myself. It might interest you to look at it, perhaps?"

"Very much so," said Winston, immediately seeing where this tended.

"Some of the new developments are most ingenious. The reduction in the number of verbs -- that is the point that will appeal to you, I think."

1984

PS: Why does it take The Daily Show to expose the president's fake town hall tour for what it is? To expose Frank Luntz for what he is?

Big ups to Samantha Bee.

UPDATE: The folks at Media Matters have much more on the evolution of Trent Lott's "nuclear option." Orwellian, Orwellian, Orwellian. Double plus good.

Labels: in the news